Democrats and Republicans cut a deal in Congress on Thursday to rewrite controversial surveillance legislation. It’s being billed as a compromise, but civil rights advocates are groaning over concessions including virtual immunity for telecommunications companies and the ability to spy on Americans without a warrant.

As if 100 years in Iraq wasn’t enough, a top adviser to John McCain claims that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee supports and believes lawful Bush’s infamous warrantless wiretapping program.

At the request of House Republicans, Congress on Thursday held a closed-door session to debate the FISA warrantless eavesdropping bill. The last time a closed-door session occurred was in 1983, when lawmakers convened in secret to discuss clandestine U.S. support of Contra paramilitaries in Nicaragua.

This might be a moment when Democratic supporters wonder what all the “changing of the guard” fuss was about when Dems took control of Congress in 2006: On Tuesday, the Senate effectively voted in favor of granting telecommunication companies retroactive immunity for their cooperation in the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program.

Sen. Chris Dodd is preparing to take to the Senate floor with a filibuster to thwart the legislative advancement of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act if it doesn’t include his proposed amendment, co-sponsored with Sen. Russ Feingold, that would prevent the Bush administration from retroactively letting big telecom companies off the hook for allowing the government to conduct warrantless surveillance on their networks.

We earlier blogged that legislation authorizing the NSA’s wiretapping program was nearing passage. That now appears not to be the case. Senate and House versions of the bill may be too far apart to be bridged before Congress recesses next week.

This version of the president’s warrantless eavesdropping bill—which appears headed for passage—will apparently still allow Bush the option of submitting his surveillance programs to a court for review.

Truthdig salutes Ann Beeson, the American Civil Liberties Union officer and lead attorney for the plaintiffs in ACLU v. NSA, the case that persuaded a Detroit judge to order a halt to the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program.

From CNN: Sen. Arlen Specter revealed a bill that would require a court to review the constitutionality of the National Security Agency’s controversial intelligence-gathering program, saying the deal was negotiated with the Bush administration’s cooperation, and that Bush would sign the bill if it doesn’t change dramatically.

Constitutional expert and best-selling author Glenn Greenwald reminds us that the Supreme Court’s Hamdan decision not only outlawed Bush’s military tribunals, but also removed any conceivable argument to support Bush’s illegal wiretapping programs.

Greenwald: “Journalists should begin asking the Justice Department every day what their legal justification for warrantless eavesdropping is now that Hamdan has rendered frivolous their prior legal arguments in defense of the President.”

An all-out White House lobbying campaign has dramatically slowed an investigation into Bush’s spying program and may eventually kill it.
The White House may have botched Cheney’s response to the hunting incident, but the administration sure hasn’t lost its touch when it comes to leaning on moderate Republicans (and even Democrats) to rally around the president. Call your senators—especially Olympia Snowe of Maine—and urge them not to cave in to political pressure.

Bush attends the services of Coretta Scott King while simultaneously pressing on with a warrantless spying program. | storyForty years ago, the FBI used illegal wiretaps in an attempt to blackmail King’s husband. | Truthdig filesPlus a change…

As Attorney General Alberto Gonzales prepares for Monday’s hearings, we should keep in mind the president’s 2004 statement about warrantless wiretaps: “Anytime you hear the United States government talking about a wiretap, it requires—a wiretap requires a court order.” (Hat tip: crooksandliars.com) | video

The president is now calling it the “Terrorist Surveillance Program.” | storyOK, Mr. Bush, but what about the non-terrorists being swept up in your nets? Not that we’re surprised by the new moniker; this is the guy who legalized an increase in air pollution and called it “Clear Skies,” and labeled a tree-slashing program “Healthy Forests.”

Think Progress notes that the Arizona senator is the latest in a long list of Republican conservatives who have expressed strong doubts about the program’s legality. | blogCrooks and Liars has the video.

An intense debate has been raging on Op-Ed pages and in the blogosphere over the legality of President Bush’s warrantless domestic surveillance program. What follows is a roundup of some of the most influential, talked-about and linked-to analyses.

The president attempts to explain how his 2004 claim that “a wiretap requires court orders” squares with his warrantless surveillance program. Times reporter Eric Licthblau calls Bush’s comments “at odds” with those of his senior aides.

Two of Bush’s most senior advisors made an emergency visit in 2004 to a hospitalized John Ashcroft to get him to override his deputy and sign off on a continued warrantless domestic surveillance program. Read the story